Coach White on Fresno Pacific Series: "The FPU series was very competitive and we were able to come away with a tough series win.  Winning in walk off fashion in Saturday's nightcap was a great way to end the series.  We will try to build off this weekend as we head into our league series versus a very capable Dominguez Hills club."
 
Coach White on Cal State Dominguez Hills Series: "CSUDH is a talented club that has been in some very tight, competitive CCAA series.  This weekend will be another one of those series.  We will need to be at our best this weekend. There is a lot of parity in our conference, so it really comes down to which ever team plays the best baseball.  I believe we are starting to play our best baseball and we plan to continue that this weekend."
 
    Coach White on CSUMB's 2014 Rotation: "We have some very capable pitchers on this staff.  We haven't been as consistent as we would like, but it is starting to come together.  We may make a few changes to the rotation in order to bolster the back end of our bullpen, but the plan is still for each pitcher to pitch to the best of their ability when their number is called.  When we pitch and play defense, we are tough to beat."

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LEADING OFF: The Otters resume their conference schedule with a 4-game series against Cal State Dominguez Hills March 28-30.  With rain on the forecasted for Saturday, CSUMB will open the series with a noon doubleheader on Friday, followed by a single game on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.  The series finale is slated for 11 a.m. on Sunday.
 
SCOUTING CAL STATE DOMINGUEZ HILLS: The Toros are second to last in the CCAA standings after dropping 11 of their last 12 games. CSUDH started the skid with two losses to Cal Poly Pomona before being swept by UC San Diego (that included two shutouts). After only scoring seven runs at Sonoma State, the Toros came home with only one victory in the 4-game series. Players To Watch: senior outfielder Hayden Maurice (.360 Avg., 27 H, 11 R), senior infielder Peter Ives (.342 Avg., 25 H, 9 2B, 13 RBIs), senior outfielder David Steininger (.288 Avg., 23 H, 15 R, 8 SB), senior RHP David Haerle (4-3, 2.25 ERA, 48.0 IP, 34 SO)
 
LAST SERIES AGAINST THE TOROS: CSUMB and Cal State Dominguez Hills split in 2013 with the Otters winning the first two easily at 7-2 and 9-5 before falling by one run in the final two (2-1 and 3-2).  It was the lone loss of Jeff Owen's (Clovis East HS) sophomore campaign despite giving up only two runs in six innings.
 
LAST TIME OUT: CSUMB concluded its nonconference schedule with a series victory over Fresno Pacific. The Otters held on to a 2-1 win in Fresno last Friday with Michael Isom (Fresno/Hofstra Univ.) collecting his first win and Jeff Owen recording the save. CSUMB dropped the first game of Saturday's doubleheader 11-7 before winning the rubber game 7-4 thanks to Kaden Kamoe's (Aiea, Hawaii/Univ. of Hawaii) walk-off homer in the eighth inning.
 
CCAA WEEKEND RECAP:  The lone two CCAA series last weekend resulted in sweeps with Chico State taking four from Cal State Stanislaus and Sonoma State doing the same to San Francisco State.
 
OTTERS NEAR TOP OF CCAA: Junior Brian Hamm (Pleasanton/Chabot College) sits in second place in the CCAA stolen bases category with 13, closing in on leader Cal State East Bay's Mark Wise 15 stolen bases. Junior Jeff Owen joins five other pitchers, Cal Poly Pomona's Max Bethell and Nick Hudson of Cal State East Bay as well as Chico State's Marcos Lara and Brad Lohse, on top of the conference statistic list with five wins. Senior Mark Hurley (Hollister/College of San Mateo) ranks third in runs batted in with 23 as Cal Poly Pomona's David Armendariz leads the conference with 31 RBIs.
 
CSUMB LEADS CONFERNECE: CSUMB leads the CCAA in five categories: doubles (62), doubles per game (2.07), stolen bases (37), sacrifice flies (17) and triples (8).  The Otters rank second in walks (105), hits (268), slugging percentage (.372), runs (154), runs batted in (139), and triples per game (.22).
 
NCAA STATISTICS, TEAM EDITION:  The Otters are in the nation's top 30 in seven categories with No. 14 in the nation with 63 doubles and No. 16 with 17 sacrifice flies. The other five are: No. 25 in doubles per game (2.07), No. 26 hit by pitches, No. 29th in No. 41 in hits (268), No. 42 in shutouts (2) and No. 43 in walks (105).
 
WATCH OUT HAMM!: After being hit twice this past weekend by Fresno Pacific, junior Brian Hamm (Pleasanton/Chabot College) ranks 29th in the nation with nine hit by pitches. Chico State's leads the CCAA and ranks 16th in the NCAA with 10 HBP.
 
MAKIE IT A DOUBLE: With a conference leading 62 doubles, CSUMB ranks 2nd in the Otter record book by averaging 2.06 doubles a game. The 2006 squad is on top with 2.14 per game. One note, CSUMB played 55 games in 2006.  In In 2010, the NCAA lowered the maximum number of regular season games played to 50. 
 
NCAA STATISTICS, 2013 EDITION: Jeff Owen also made a mark in the final NCAA Division II statistics (6/2/13) by appearing in three Top 20 categories: wins (5th, 12), strikeouts (13th, 98) and hits allowed per 9 innings (16th, 6.29). A.J. Quintero finished 12th in the nation with his 10 saves.  
 
FIRST BROOM SIGHTING SINCE 2012:  The Otters suffered a series sweep at Cal Poly Pomona to begin the 2014 conference season.  CSUMB had not been swept since its 2012 series against Cal State Stanislaus (March 23-25).  Under Coach Walt White's tutelage, the Otters have only been swept twice with the other one against his alma mater Sonoma State in a non-conference action in 2011 to begin his reign as CSUMB head coach.
 
COUNTDOWN TO 200: Junior Jeff Owen is only 19 strikeouts away from being the first CSUMB pitcher to reach the 200 strikeouts milestone.  In less than three seasons, Owen has dominated the pitching career records at CSUMB.
 
CAREER RECORD ACHEIVED: Junior Jeff Owen captured another CSUMB career record this season to add to his already impressive resume.  Catching four batters looking at strikeouts in his 4-0 shutout over San Francisco State (March 8), passing previous leader Patrick McClain's (2007-10).  Owen now holds seven CSUMB career record: most strikeouts (180), most strikeout looking (48) most strikeouts in a 9-inning game (8.28), most wins (21), most complete games (10), most shutouts (4) and most combined shutouts (3).
 
PRESEASON HONORS:  Senior A.J. Quintero became CSUMB's second NCBWA Preseason All-American after being selected to the third team.  Outfielder Jared DeCastro received honorable mention honors in 2012. Quintero recorded 10 saves in 2013, ranking 12th in the nation. Quintero on the NCBWA Preseason All-Region first team is senior Mark Hurley and junior Jeff Owen.  Senior Chris Daniels (Citrus Heights/Sierra College) was a second team selection. 
 
SECOND ISN'T BAD:  The Otters were picked second by the league coaches in the CCAA preseason poll despite receiving five first-place votes.  Chico State, with only one first-place vote, was deemed the favorite.  CSUMB and Chico State had equal number of votes to win the CCAA Championship Tournament which will be played in Stockton May 8-11.
 
BROKEN RECORDS BREAKDOWN OF 2013:  RHP Jeff Owen passed Grayson Adams (2007) as the CSUMB single season leader in strikeouts with 98. Owen also clinched the top spot in the CSUMB record books in the 2013 season with most wins in a season (12).  Junior A.J. Quintero (Vacaville/Sacramento CC) became the single season and career record leader with 10 saves, passing Harold Zosel's eight in 2012.
 
FIVE SERIES SWEEPS IN 2013:  The Otters achieved their first series sweep of 2013 at Point Loma Nazarene to open the season (Feb. 1-2) with scores of 7-3, 6-1 and 8-5.  CSUMB has swept four of its last six series that included GNAC's Western Oregon, No. 23 Sonoma State (April 5-7), Cal Poly Pomona (April 19-21) and Cal State Stanislaus (April 26-28). The Otters outscored the three CCAA schools by a combined score of 88-33.